1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lightweight wearable personal escape system and a method therefor for providing escape capability for fire fighters from high-rise buildings; and more particularly, to a personal escape system that provides a lightweight hook appointed to engage with a substantial object and being attached to a high strength heat resistant rope organized into a plurality of segments disposed in a discrete substantially parallel relationship with each other to provide for reliable tangle free high speed deployment so that a fire fighter can escape a perilous situation with rapid descent.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many patents address issues related to escaping from elevated locations including high-rise buildings. Some of these patents relate to fixed anchoring systems which an escaping person must attach himself to propel therefrom. Others disclose wearable systems that are bulky, heavy and unwieldy and therefore prevent a fireman from accomplishing his or her work.
U.S. Pat. No. 190,829 to Costantino discloses a fireman's belt, which carries a coiled knotted rope. The fireman's belt includes a fireman's escape attachment and a fireman's tool carrier, generally comprising a belt, coil of rope having knots at intervals, and a spike. The presence of the knots in the rope prevents its free delivery. The fireman has to hold the rope by his hand and rest his legs over the knots to climb down, which cannot be accomplished easily by a fireman wearing shoes or boots.
U.S. Pat. No. 279,744 to Greene discloses a fire escape. The fire escape has a frame or box, to which a waist-strap or sling is attached for connection with the body of a person escaping a fire. A roller is mounted on the side of the frame, secured to a wheel with a peripheral flange on the inner face of which a brake shoe is attached. A friction band encircles the wheel. When a person descends, the weight of the person applies pressure on the rope forcing the brake against the wheel preventing rapid descent of the frame and the person attached thereto. If the descent is perceived to be too rapid, a lever may be operated to force the friction band against the wheel, further decreasing the rate of descent. The disclosed fire escape apparatus is a bulky device with more than one braking mechanism to decrease the rate of descent of a person escaping a fire. This fire escape apparatus is not a fireman's emergency exit tool since the braking action is not reliably controlled due to the use of two independent braking systems. The hook is not designed to create a purchase point on commonly available sources. The rope is not contained within the device, rather goes through the friction generating mechanisms.
U.S. Pat. No. 287,491 to Woodward discloses a fire escape system. The fire escape system uses a rope with a hook appointed for attaching the rope to a suitable location. The rope passes between and is clamped by two wooden arms. The inner surfaces of the arms have a groove near the hinge through which the rope slides. A sliding sleeve is provided in the rope where the person who is escaping fire grabs the rope and the friction generated at the arms decreases the rate of descent of the person. The arms are attached to a belt, which encircles the user. The rope has to be hung from a suitable place and is not provided with a hook adapted for securement to an object through penetration via a purchase point. The sleeve only prevents the rope burn of a descending person and the wooden arms provide the friction to slow descent in a smooth rope. The friction generated is not controlled and therefore this device does not allow quick exit from a fire situation and is not useful for a fire fighter. There is no support for the escaping person since there is no support at the end of the rope. As a consequence, the person attempting to escape may receive a severe fall.
U.S. Pat. No. 939,375 to Andrews discloses a fire escape. The portable fire escape comprises a casing containing a reel on which a line or cable is wound. The casing is supported on any suitable place on a building from which the fire escape is to be made. The casing carries a sling to support a person and is lowered by paying out a line or cable from the reel. The speed of descent is controlled by any suitable mechanism. After descent, the casing is returned back to its original location by a spring contained in the device and is available for use by another person. In this disclosure, the fire escape is attached to a specific location in a building and a person has to get to the device for descent. The escaping person does not carry the fire escape device. The pay out of the line is resisted by a spring mechanism and the escape is therefore slow.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,300,870 to Plush discloses a receptacle for fire escapes. The receptacle provides a container for housing and coiling a fire escape rope, thereby concealing the rope when it is not in use and protecting the rope from rodents. The device is attached to a wall or a building and is not carried by a person escaping fire or a fire fighter. Moreover, the disclosed receptacle does not provide quick exit of a fire fighter from a fire emergency situation since no escape tool is carried by the fire fighter.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,729,425 to Gschwind discloses a safety device. The safety device is worn on the back of the user who works above ground level. A housing with a front plate and back plate is attached to a safety harness. A safety rope is coiled within the device and is attached to a hook anchored in a building. During use, the rope is attached to a fixed location on the wall or window hook to provide support to a user who is working off ground. The pulley carrying the rope has a V shaped channel on one side through which a belt passes. The ends of the V belt are fastened to two blocks connected to a braking lever. This braking action prevents the pay out of the rope at a high speed providing support for the user, who can only move at a low velocity. The safety device supports the user in a fall situation. This safety device is not an escape mechanism for a fire fighter but allows above ground workers gradual movement. It does not provide quick escape of a fire fighter from a fire situation due to the presence of braking action, which restricts fast movement. The hook and rope are not carried by the person wearing the bulky device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,236 to Weber discloses a personnel lowering device intended for lowering parachuters marooned in high trees, and being provided as a lightweight attachment to a standard parachute. The device has a rescue lowering line which is passed through parachute risers. The device has an emergency braking and a stowage pack. The male fittings are provided for parachute canopy release. The line is equipped with a snap hook on its free end. This personnel lowering device is attached to a parachute and allows a user to lower from a high tree. The device uses a brake to prevent rapid descent of the user. This is not a fireman's escape. It does not allow quick exit of a fireman from an unsafe situation since the device incorporates a brake, which cannot be disengaged. Moreover, the device is an integral part of the parachute not carried by the person using the parachute.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,882 to Lindqvist discloses life saving implements. The implements include a line securely fastened to the bottom of a narrow elongated bag, which is open at one end. The bag is buoyant and contains a weight so that it floats. When the bag is thrown to a person requiring assistance in water, the thrower holds a free end of the line and in turn a length of line contained in the bag is free to run from the bag as the bag travels to the victim. The disclosed implements provide a buoyant device for use in water that is thrown to a person requiring assistance. As the bag is traveling in air to the victim, the line contained in the bag is released. The life saving implement, a buoy, is not carried by the person needing assistance, rather, it is thrown to the escaping person in water by the rescuer. The life saving implements do not provide an escape means for a fireman.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,449 to Arancio discloses a safety descent apparatus. A harness is detachably supported inside a coat and fastened loosely around the wearer's waist and buttocks, so that the wearer can move around when the apparatus is not in use for descent. A hook at one end of a rope is anchored around a substantial object. The harness has an additional hook to attach to a ladder and other objects for safety. The loose end of the rope is then thrown out of a window. The user wraps the rope three or four times around a hook on the harness and lets himself out of the window and is supported by the anchored rope. To stop descent, the rope is pulled and to descend the rope is fed up. The rope is not carried by the person using the device. The rope does not have a hook capable of multiple anchoring functionality. The descent rate is merely controlled by the number of times the rope is wrapped around the hook and one of the turns may slip out suddenly decreasing friction providing unreliable descent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,431 to Carroll et al. discloses emergency personnel lowering apparatus appointed for use by aircrew men. The emergency personnel lowering apparatus comprises a support frame and has a stowage bag that includes a lowering line stowed in a plurality of hanks within the bag. A lowering control mechanism and an attachment line are positioned within the bag adjacent the lowering line. A portion of the attachment line extends out of the bag and forms a pull loop. The lowering control mechanism includes an adjustable descent control mechanism which controls the area of contact between different portions of the lowering line to control the rate of descent. Plural paths are provided for the lowering line in the descent control mechanism to adapt the system for different loads. A brake mechanism is provided to stop descent if the person on the line becomes incapable of self-protection on the ground. This disclosed device is for rescuing downed aircrew men from marooned positions in high trees. The lowering line is secured to firm support looping the toggle in the lowering line and the person to be lowered is attached to the support. The brake in the lowering line decreases the rate of descent. This is a bulky device and is not worn by a fire fighter for escape from emergency situation. There is no hook present in the device for multiple attachments to substantial objects.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,674 to Stirtz discloses a sack and rope assembly. A continuous length of line is stored in a sack of mesh construction and a line is stored within the sack formed as multiple collections of line following one another and serially located in the interior of the sack. The sack has a closable throat at one end through which controlled portions of the line are paid out in an orderly fashion and without snarling and knotting of the line when needed. The line and sack assembly has a multiplicity of uses. For instance, such may be used in the storing of a length of rope in a car, boat, or other vehicle with the rope in readiness for use in emergencies, or for other uses (such as a tow rope for water-skiing, or as an anchor rope for a boat). One extremity of the line appears at one end of the sack, and the other extremity of the line appears at the other end of the sack. Provision is made through the presence of an enlarged closeable opening at one end of the sack to reload the sack with serially located accumulations or collections, after use of the rope and for storage purposes. With the sack reloaded, the line is maintained in an ordered manner, whether the sack be moved from place to place, be stepped upon, or bent on itself for storage purposes. The rope in this device is organized within a mesh sack in compartments and the rope sticks out of the bag on both sides. Gripping the sack by hand provides friction for the rope. The rope is not integrally associated with a hook and cannot be readily used by a fireman for escape from a burning inferno.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,135 to Bell et al. discloses a rappel rescue system. This compact, rapidly deployable rappel rescue system is housed in a lightweight carrier and connected to a belt or harness for portable use or mounted in a stationary position readily available for emergency use. The carrier contains a carabineer connected to one end of a tubularly woven Kevlar aramid fiber of similar lightweight, high strength synthetic polymer rappel line folded into a deployment bag, an edge guard protective sleeve pad slidable on the line and adjustable to the rappel point, a modified figure-of-eight multi-configuration descender, and an end-stop ring connected to the other end of the rappel line. The deployment bag allows the entire line to be removed from the carrier and simply dropped, as the deployment bag falls to the ground the rappel line will automatically deploy ready for use. Alternatively, the line may also be deployed from the carrier while rappelling. This system comprises a carrier within which a ripcord is placed in a deployment bag. The carabineer is used to form a loop in the repel line and the loop is slipped over a pipe or a support object. The deployment bag with the repel line carrying an eight-shaped descender is thrown to the ground and the free end of the repel line hangs freely. The stop ring prevents descent beyond the end of the repel line. The repel rescue system does not have a hook for creating attachment point readily. The rope is maintained in the deployment bag in an unorganized manner and can snag or tangle easily. The attachment of the carrier to a belt or harness is by means of Velcro strips, and is likely to separate under the weight of the person using the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,619 to Damell discloses a fire escape device. This fire escape device is adapted for use in escaping from a structure through the screen of a screened-in area. The device comprises an elongate non-combustible core of fire-resistant wire escape rope, a dull screen-cutting knife, and a connector securing the knife to the rope adjacent one end of the rope. The escape means has a first end adapted to be secured to the structure and a second end adapted to be moved through a cut screen, the second end being the one secured to the cutting means. The device has an attachment hook attached to a rope with knots and a dull screen-cutting knife attached to the distal end of the rope. The user cuts the screen, attaches the hook to tie around a support, such as furniture, and begins the descent using the knots in the rope. The fire escape does not have a multi-attachment hook and solely relies on the attachment of a loop formed using the hook to support the person during descent. The knots in the rope prevent quick descent. The fire escape device is unsuited for use by a fire fighter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,956 to Constantinis et al. discloses a descending device whereby personnel or other loads may descend from an elevated position at a controlled and variable speed. The descending device comprises a restraining member having a series of slots. A tape or rope stored in a container, which passes through in alternate directions passes through the slots, one or more edges of each aperture defining a contact surface providing frictional engagement for the line as the load descends. A hook is provided for attachment of the device to a fixed point. The restraining member incorporates a large aperture, which may serve as a handgrip. There is also included a harness to be worn by the user, which is adapted to be attached to the restraining member and to the container by one or more quick release shackles. The harness may be of a so-called “nappy” type or may consist of a waistband and crotch straps with means for attachment of the restraining member to at least one loop at the front of the waistband, whilst the container is attached to the side region of the harness. Still further, the entire harness may be incorporated into a survival suit which may have provision for the container to be attached to the suit about the wearer's knee or any other accessible position. The user wearing a harness that is removably attached to the restraining member may descend at a controlled rate determined by a light load applied to the tape below the restraining member owing to the frictional contact of the tape passing around the edges of slots. After the descent a quick release shackle releases the harness from the device. The descending device does not have a multi-functional hook capable of creating an anchoring point. The tape or rope is carried in a separate canister, not by the descending person. Moreover, the person needs to use the ‘nappy’ harness and is not directly attached to a belt or body harness.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,219 to Sadeck et al. discloses a rappel rope storage and deployment system. The bag containing the rappel rope is provided with three openings. The first opening passes the knotted first end of the rope preventing its entry back into the bag. The second opening accesses the middle of the rope providing two strands of the rappel rope. The third opening accesses the second free end of the rope. The bag is attached to the belt of the person descending and he may use the single rope from the third opening or the double strand from the second opening. The rope needs to be attached to a support point and no multi-functional hook is provided. Unlike the first end of the rope which has a knot, the second end of the rope may slide back into the bag during descent presenting an unsafe situation since a double strand of the rappel rope is no longer available.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,517 to Jordan discloses a safety harness assembly with an integral support line. The safety harness assembly includes a hollow interior harness body, which receives the support line. The support line has first and second ends that extend from the harness body. The harness is secured within a garment. The garment has a front opening, which is normally covered by a releasable flap. The first and second ends of the support line extend through the front opening and are accessible when the flap is moved to an open position. The first end of the support line may be pulled away from the harness to extend the support line therefrom. The second end of the support line is secured to the harness. This safety harness wraps around the torso of the wearer with shoulder straps. An inner pouch within the harness carries the integrated support line. The first and second end of the support line are connected to a carabineer and the first end is free to be extended, releasing 50 feet of support line, while the carabineer attached to the second end is firmly connected to the safety harness. The user connects the first end carabineer to a support structure. This safety harness has no hook to create an attachment support point. Only a carabineer is provided. The rope is not orderly packed within the safety harness and may snag or tangle easily. There is no friction device limiting the descent speed of the user. Since the safety harness is supported on the torso and shoulder straps, it is unsuitable for lowering a person from a height since the safety harness may slip over the head.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,920 to Schafler discloses a tag line pack. This tag line pack has applications as a safety device for firefighters or rescue personnel and includes a container or bag having a pack of safety line formed from flat fabric webbing folded into a plurality of accordion folds or laps and deployed from a lower end of the bag. The bag may be hand carried, or may be secured to the body of the firefighter. The tag line pack contains a bag, which contains safety line of accordion folded fabric with one end attached to the bag and the other free end carrying a metal block and a loop. The metal block secures the free end to a hinged doorframe and the loop end attaches to a pole. The hand carried tag line has no attachment to the body and the fire fighter has no means to attach himself to the tag line bag. In the version of the tag line pack that is attached to the fire fighter, there is no mechanism provided to limit the descent rate of the fire fighter. The tag line pack does not have a multi-attachment hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,800,007 to Calkin discloses a wearable personal emergency rescue apparatus. This wearable personal emergency rescue apparatus comprises a wearable flexible bag member with randomly laid cord used for rescue. One end of the cord is attached to the bag member and the other end is attached to a carabineer. The bag is made from buoyant material so that it can be used for water safety. The user throws the bag to the person being rescued and once the person being rescued wears the wearable bag, he/she is drawn to safety by pulling on the cord. The rescue apparatus is not worn by the person being rescued, but rather is thrown to the person being rescued. There is no multi-attachment hook present in the free end of the cord. This device is not a personal safety system for a fire fighter.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,880,702 to Colorado discloses a firefighter's rope bag and rapid deployment system. The rope bag is left outside the building where the fire fighter has to enter and the rope is deployed from the bag defining the entry and exit path for the fire fighter when the pathway visibility is obstructed by smoke. This device does not provide rescue for a fire fighter from a height.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0205430 to Na discloses a fire escape device. The device consists of a hollow backboard attached to a harness, which has a waist strap and bottom strap. The hollow backboard has a woven rope fabric that is attached on the bottom to a secure rod and the rope at the upper end of the woven fabric is pulled to continuously unravel the rope. The upper end of the rope is attached to a hook connected to a supporting structure. The rope of the woven rope fabric is coated with paraffin to prevent snagging of the rope. The rope passes through three resistant rods, which are compressed against each other by compression springs. The tension of the compression pin is increased by a handle to increase the friction of the rope thereby reducing the rate of descent of the user. The fire escape device does not have a multi-attachment hook for providing easily accessible support locations. The rope is released by unraveling a woven rope fabric. Moreover, the pay out of the rope is jerky and the descent of the user is unpredictable in spite of the friction generation rods.
There remains a need in the art for a light weight system that is wearable by a fire fighter and has an attachment hook that can establish a purchase point in readily available locations and reliably permits the escape of a fire fighter from elevated locations in high rise buildings that present danger to the fire fighter's life.